Poco a poco...

Since the holidays life has been progressing fairly slowly here at site. I’m not complaining as I’ve had time to read a few good books. From what I gather, most PC volunteers occupy a fair amount of their time reading and it’s not uncommon to read triple digit numbers of books during two years of service. Surprisingly enough, having tons of free time on my hands is somewhat stressful. I always feel like I should be doing something and I am always conscious that people might think I’m just chilling. Oh well, poco a poco.

Poco a poco is a commonly used phrase that means “little by little” and I try to slip it into nearly every conversation so as to subtly convey the idea that what I’m doing requires LOTS of time. I figure if I use it frequently enough they’ll start to understand. In fact, I use it almost as much as I use "aah yah", the general filler which literally means anything you want it to. I find I can get through nearly any conversation with just these two phrases. Perhaps this is where they’re getting the idea that I still haven’t dominated the Spanish language.

Continuing with the poco a poco theme, I think one of my counterparts straight up doesn’t get it. I met with him the other day for the second time and thinking we’d discuss general matters and such was out of the question. First of all, he asked me what projects I’d already started. Clearly I haven’t gotten anything off the ground yet and so I figured I’d ask what he had in mind. He got even more serious than he already was, looked me straight in the eyes and said, “We’re thinking we’d like a mill, an algorrobo mill.” My response: “A big mill…like a factory?” Him: “Yep, a big one.” I managed to maintain a straight face and asked if he was considering any other projects. Indeed, they’d also like a health post. I dropped the subject after that; fearful of what else he had in mind. I’ll say this much, “construct factory” certainly hadn’t made it onto my list of things to do and, as for the health post, I was thinking more along the lines of hand-washing talks.

Some typical Peruvian customs that will probably not change, not even poco a poco:
- Straight MSG added to all Peruvian dishes that taste good (disguised as a Chinese product called Ajinomoto). No joke, there is a fairly large section of every grocery store dedicated solely to pure MSG.
- Peruvians of nearly every socio-economic level appear to shop at the same clothing store. This may support equality but is NOT a good thing. For those lucky few of you who have participated in the Monticello Freedom celebration, you may be able to formulate an accurate picture.
- Throwing caution to the wind with very young children—they give them knives, send them on seemingly grown-up errands, and allow them to walk alone across town.
- Not throwing caution to the wind when traveling outside of your home base, especially alone. Within this base, everyone and everything is undoubtedly tranquil and harmless. Outside of this ridiculously small area, everyone and everything is undoubtedly evil and will try to kill or rob you. Recently I was told to watch my shoes, because they, as in anyone who I don’t know, may, and most likely will, steal them off of my feet.